Nick Clegg, in an interview with the Independent that went out yesterday, said that a Tory minority government would be “chaos”. Strong words; I thought I’d try and think about this objectively and see just how chaotic a Tory minority government would actually be – if at all. Looking at the first bit of what […]
Archives for April 2015
Holy crap: Ed Miliband could actually be prime minister in a few weeks time
For some time now, at least eighteen months, received wisdom in Westminster is that the following things were almost certainly true in regards to the general election: one, there is going to be another hung parliament. Two, that the Tories would emerge as the largest party again. There seemed to be too many factors going […]
The nightmare scenario: what if no government is possible after May 7th?
Imagine this on May 8th: the Tories have ended up with 270 seats in the House of Commons, the exact same number as Labour. The Lib Dems have 30, the SNP 40. The rest of the House is comprised of tiny parties with a handful of seats, the DUP being the largest with 9. If […]
Labour and the tip toe to Number 10: Ed’s team should probably just shut up about virtually everything until May 8th
Yesterday came Labour’s announcement about their plan to get rid of non-dom status in Great Britain. Hundreds of years of tax exile, brought to a shuddering halt by Prime Minister Miliband. Well, not really. This was a typical Labour announcement, on par with the tuition fees tinker and the zero hours fudge. If you look […]
David Cameron’s plea for UKIPers to “come home” is further alienation to liberals
Out on the campaign trail yesterday, the prime minister gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph. During the course of it, he made a plea to those thinking of voting UKIP to “come home” to the Conservative Party. This is actually what he said specifically: “They can see the tougher approach we’ve taken to immigration. […]
The most annoying thing about the election campaign so far: the left media’s worship of the SNP
People ask me on social media what my dislike of the SNP stems from. I’m not Scottish, nor have I ever lived there; my only link at all to the place is my Glaswegian grandmother, but she has nothing to do with my anti-SNP vibe. It’s very simple: I don’t like nationalism, of any stripe. […]
The five most rock and roll footballers to ever play in England
I remember an article that ran in the NME during the late 1990s entitled “Is football the new rock and roll?” No one is calling football the new rock and roll these days, or indeed the new anything, nor is anyone describing anything at all as the new rock and roll. Footballers are a robotic […]
The leaked Miliband “happy warrior” notes: did Ed intentionally go soft on the SNP?
One of the more predictable outcomes of the seven-person-slam leaders’ debate held last Thursday evening was that Nicola Sturgeon came out of it well. She’s a very good public speaker, few in England would have heard her speak, and best of all from her perspective, she’s in the party riding highest at the moment, all […]
The real crisis in the political system is everyone constantly going on about a crisis in the political system
Jonathan Jones, the Guardian’s art critic, dipped his toe into politics this past week with an article entitled, “The Joey Essex and Nick Clegg ‘selfie’ portrays a political system in crisis” Now I like Jonathan’s articles on the art world and it feels slightly mean to have a go at his foray into political writing, […]
I’ve begun to think that Nigel Farage doesn’t actually want to win Thanet South anymore
The Guardian did a piece on Nigel Farage a few weeks back. It was the sort of typical, “on the campaign trail with politician x” article you get round this sort of period just before a general election. There was one quote from Farage that has stuck with me since I first read it. When […]